Is TEMPUS A Part of Greek Grammar?
Brian Swedburg
brian at discoveryhills.org
Thu Sep 23 15:06:16 EDT 1999
Jim West wrote:
> Is
> >time grammaticalized in Greek?
>
> It certainly is. How shall we conceive of a language which has no reference
> to temporality? Are we to visualize a timeless universalism in which every
> action is present and every truth relativized to some sort of timelessness?
>
> I cannot even begin to imagine what such a language would sound like- nor
> can I imagine what meaning words would have removed from time and placed in
> some sort of utopian never-never-land (with apologies to the fans of Michael
> Jackson who are fond of the never-never-land ranch).
>
> Sometimes I get the feeling that the more bizarre an idea is, the more
> popular it will be. And, to me, it is simply bizarre to suggest
> a-temporality when it comes to language.
>
> Jim and others, greetings
As I noted previously, I am just a "little greek" , so I toss this thought
out with a sense of humor. Last year when we studied aspect and aktionstart, along
with probing the question of whether or not time is grammaticalized in the verb's
morphology, I had the same basic objection as Jim to considering the verbs of a
language not being temporal.
As I pondered this in my studies, I realized that American Sign Language
does not grammaticalize time in the verb. Seperate signs are used to indicate
whether the verb is present, past, future, etc... This does not prove anything
concerning greek, It just opened the door to my considering the possibility that a
language can indicate time through means other than the verb itself, in a given
phrase.
Just a thought. Thanks,
Brian
M.A.E.T. Student Western Sem.
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